Introduction to Psychodrama 2027
Living life with vitality and potency takes more than talking through our challenges; it calls for action, presence, and room to experiment. This experiential weekend workshop introduces psychodrama. We will create a collaborative space to bring your life stories into the room.
Rather than treating our patterns, roles, and relationships as static, psychodrama encourages us to step into them, examine them from different angles and discover fresh ways to respond to life’s complexities. By bringing relationship dynamics onto the stage and into action, we open space for spontaneity, insight and creative expression.
What You Can Expect to Experience
- Active Exploration: Learn how past, present, or imagined future situations can be concretised and explored within a supportive group setting.
- Core Psychodramatic Concepts: Gain practical experience with foundational concepts, including role theory, spontaneity, doubling, mirroring and role reversal.
- Action-Oriented Insight: Discover how group dynamics, sociometry, and surplus reality can illuminate the underlying patterns shaping your personal and professional relationships.
- Room for Spontaneity: Expand your capacity to relate effectively to others, navigate stress and develop meaningful connections.
Who This Workshop Is For
This course is open to anyone seeking personal or professional development, with no prior psychodrama experience required. It is ideal for:
- Practitioners in people-centred fields – counselling, psychotherapy, education, health, social services, coaching, leadership, and the arts – who are looking to add active, dynamic approaches to their work practice.
- Individuals navigating change, feeling stuck in relational patterns, or wanting to expand their creative capacity in daily life.
- Anyone curious about psychodrama or considering formal, multi-year training with Psychodrama Aotearoa New Zealand (PANZ) in 2027.
Whether you are bringing a specific personal goal, a complex professional dilemma, or simply a curiosity about experiential group work, this weekend offers a space to experiment, reflect, and discover new possibilities for being in the world.
Times
- Saturday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
- Sunday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Enquiries
Please email Simon and let them know if you have any questions. simon@psychodrama.org.nz
Venue
Kea Rua Room, Climate Change Campus. 180 Avonside Drive, Avonside, Ōtautahi Christchurch
(Park in the Cowlishaw Avenue Carpark, Climate Change Campus)
Group Leader
Simon Gurnsey is an Ordinary Member of AANZPA and is a Sociometrist and Trainer Educator Practitioner (TEP). He provides training at the PANZ Ōtautahi Christchurch and Ōtepoti Dunedin Campuses. He has held various leadership roles within the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association (AANZPA), including Treasurer on the Executive Committee and served as the AANZPA Membership Administrator for many years.
Simon has a focus on using psychodrama to foster inclusion and equity in professional settings. He has worked for many years in NGO organisations, most recently with the award-winning organisation Gap Filler and the Weed Action Native Habitat Restoration Trust.
Simon keeps his creativity flowing through his passion for building things out of wood and earth. Pictures of his new woodshed are available! He enjoys spending time at the home he shares with Sara Crane and a large number of domestic animals.